The Wind
After telling everyone in Guinea-Bissau goodbye I boarded my flight to Praia, Cape Verde. It was a really late flight (about 2am) and didn’t arrive until almost 3:30am. I then was witness to one of the most inefficient visa on arrival systems that I have seen. There were maybe eight people in front of me and it took an average of ten minutes each. And to be honest I would say the blame was not entirely with the visa officials as almost everyone had forgotten some paperwork or done something wrong! It was a nightmare, especially given the time. When it was my turn it took maybe three minutes and I was finally on my way.
I met the driver that I had arranged through where I would be staying, Praiadise Hostel. The drive was about ten minutes and I was so excited to finally go to sleep. It was a legitimate hostel setup (shared room type) but there was only one other person in my room and they checked out before I even fell asleep, so I had the entire room to myself. I finally went to sleep around 5am and woke up around 10am. I woke up plenty throughout the night, though, as the wind was as intense as I have ever heard and it was constant.
I’m staying in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, which is an archipelago country of 10 islands off the coast of West Africa. I didn’t have much planned for the day but I was still excited to see the island. My first stop was to walk to the Cruz De Papa viewpoint out over the water. The view was amazing as promised, and from there I headed down towards the water. I headed to find a place to eat. My first stop was in the Praia Shopping center but it was closed for the season, so I then made my way to Bica D'Areia which was definitely the better move anyway. Bica D'Areia was right on the water and I had an amazing view of Quebra Canela beach and the beautiful weather throughout my lunch. I was starving by this point and so glad to finally eat a big meal for the first time in a few days.
After looking out over Quebra Canela beach for a bit I walked down to it before making my way back to sit at the Cruz De Papa viewpoint again. It was really a great spot! After taking in the views and the vicious wind I made my way back to Praiadise Hostel. I decided to work for a bit with the great wifi and was able to sit on the balcony while I worked which was very nice. After a while, I made my way back out to get dinner at a nice little spot called Terrazza Italia. I had a tasty pizza before heading back to Praiadise for the evening. I would have another crazy early morning flight so I worked until about 11:30pm when I took a taxi to the airport.
The flight was unfortunately full so I had no chance of getting a good sleep. It was made worse by the guy next to me spilling his orange juice everywhere, including all over my pants and blanket. And then TAP Air Portugal did not have one extra blanket on the whole plane! I have not been impressed at all by this airline over the past few days. Anyways, I probably was able to sleep for a few hours before arriving back in Lisbon to continue my travels back towards the east tomorrow as I head to Bulgaria!
I enjoyed my time in Praia but would probably head to another more tourist-focused island the next time that I visit Cape Verde. There were other tourists, and you can tell that Praia is becoming a more popular destination, but there were not a lot of things to see or do. I did enjoy the weather and the beach, though!
96 countries down, 100 to go.
To learn more about Praiadise Hostel click here.
